Christmas Past - Remembered and Missed

(Written By Jules):

This year, my 12 year old son has asked for an iPod for Christmas. We have decided, however, that a less expensive MP3 will most likely be what he gets. Being that he’s on the immature side, loses things such as his winter coat on a cold snowy day last week (it did turn up in his locker at school), his $15.00 Virgin mobile top up cell phone (again, went the cheap route because of his track record) and countless school supplies – he’s already on a second round of new supplies and it’s only December), the same brand less expensive MP3 that I personally own will be what he gets. It will still have to be heavily monitored because of the high probability of it turning up missing, or found in my washing machine…

I started thinking about the things I got for Christmas when I was a kid, particularly around his age, or a little younger. There was my transistor radio, no doubt a Christmas gift, a little handheld one in a brown leather case with a strap. I do not remember the brand name. It required some effort to get it to work at times, probably due to dying batteries since I played the thing constantly – pressing the 9 volt battery up against the connectors, holding it this way or that way, whatever it took to get the best reception from CKLW out of Detroit/Windsor. Transistor radios are pretty prehistoric compared to how we access music today, but nothing opened up the world to me like the music that came, often crackly, from that little radio. Music was my escape from things that were hard on the not so popular loner kid that I was. Music in many ways was EVERYTHING to me. It made me feel happy. I could listen to music and forget that I didn’t like school, that I was a shy kid and struggled socially. Music connected me somehow to the world, and helped me get through. Thank you Elton John!!! No, I didn’t have an MP3 player but I had what most of us did during the 1970s – and it was enough. It was more than enough. It still makes me feel good to think back on the many happy hours I spent listening to that radio.

I went through my Barbie stage for awhile, but I never actually owned my own Barbie. Rather, I inherited my sister’s dolls, which were probably circa 1960, possibly original versions of Barbie, with the heavily lined lids and the high ponytail. My sister had a “Midge” doll too who wasn’t too cute. We had Skipper who was a kid doll, Barbie’s little sister. It wasn’t until I got Barbie’s English cousin (later I think she was plugged as Barbie’s sister) “Stacie” in 1968 that I felt I had a cool doll. To me, Stacie was the hottest doll in the collection of Barbies (unlike kid Skipper or Midge). She was up to date, red hair with bangs, a side swept ponytail (which would require extensions if you wanted to recreate the look today) and eyelashes. I thought Stacie emulated total beauty. I wanted to look just like her when I grew up. Never was there a more beautiful doll than Stacie. I can still remember the rubber/plastic smell of that doll when I opened the box on Christmas - Stacie by Mattel.

There were other things I remember like Liddle Kiddles, an Alice in Wonderland watch, a Mickey Mouse watch that was “electric” and needed battery (the beginning of the end to the wind up watch), a baby doll early on called Thumbelina that squirmed and moved like a baby. But my brother had the toy I truly wanted, Mattel’s “Thingmaker” and the molds for Creeple Peeple. A little heating unit which could most likely send a kid to the ER with third degree burns melted different colors of PlastiGoop that was squeezed into molds set on the unit – the plastic “set” somehow while emitting unbelievable fumes throughout the whole house while my worried mother, downstairs, would scream up to his room, “You are going to burn the house down – and that awful smell!” He wasn’t banned from using it (I honestly don’t think my parents knew what they were buying when he asked for it and they never took it away from him and I don’t remember any recalls of it being a dangerous toy – which indeed it was) and we ended up with rubber ghoulish monster heads made from the goop that we stuck on our pencils. I can still see the face of one ghoul in particular – you could glue little rhinestones onto the ears of this creature. I can still remember watching my brother cooking that goop in those molds with the stench permeating the air – while he chewed gum. He didn’t let me in his room often but I think he must have felt he had something with his Thingmaker and loved to demonstrate it. He knew I was jealous.

One last thing I want to mention – K-Tel’s 22 Explosive Hits LP. It was advertised on TV nonstop. I knew the order of the songs, the photos of the artists, and I wanted that LP. None of the songs were full length – they were all shortened to fit the 22 songs on this piece of vinyl. There was a song called “Popcorn” by Hot Butter, done on Moog synthesizers (if you don’t know it, check this out and I’m sure it will come back to mind… http://www.blogger.com/. K-Tel LPs and 8 tracks – yes, 8 tracks – were popular during the 1970s. Although I can’t find a You Tube for the commercial for 22 Explosive Hits, this one comes close… http://www.blogger.com/ . My cousin and I both got “22 Explosive Hits” for Christmas one year and we talked about it constantly. There was “Chicaboom” by Daddy Dewdrops, “One Bad Apple” by the Osmonds, “If Not For You” by Olivia Newton-John, and a bunch of songs long forgotten and artists never heard of again. What was so “explosive” about these hits, I am not sure, but my cousin and I thought it was a big deal and we wore our LPs out.

I miss childhood anticipation and those long ago Christmases. I wouldn’t trade it for another era for anything. I can’t hear the music of Vince Guaraldi’s “A Charlie Brown Christmas” without thinking of my childhood – particularly, “Christmas Time Is Here” or “Skating,” imaging snowflakes falling to that lovely piano piece. There were no iPods back then but I was happy listening to AM radio on that transistor. It’s what we had. It was cool to us. There is no more Mr. Jingaling or Santa Claus set up for two weeks after Thanksgiving at the Ben Franklin store in my home town – things change, sometimes sadly – but I remember them, and those memories are always with me.

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE – FROM JULES

Sometimes I get to feelingI was back in the old days - long ago
When we were kids, when we were young,
Things seemed so perfect - you know,
The days were endless, we were crazy, we were young,
The sun was always shining - we just lived for fun.

Lyrics to “These Are The Days Of Our Lives” – Queen